Lucy Hale On ‘Katy Keene’ In The Era Of Social Distancing: ‘It’s A Little Bright Light’

Katy Keene wraps up their successful first season tonight at 8/7c on The CW. Katy Keene stars Lucy Hale as the show’s title character as she makes her way in The Big Apple alongside her best friends.

CBS Local’s Matt Weiss sat down with Hale to discuss season one, filming in New York and keeping time on sun dials.

MW: Hey Lucy, nice to see you, how are you holding up with everything?

LH: Hey Matt, I’m good! You know as good as one can be.

MW:Where are you riding everything out?

LH: I’m in LA.I was in New York right before all this happened. We got to finish the season and then I got back to LA.

MW:Have you had any new hobbies, any new activities you’ve been picking up in quarantine?

LH: I’ve done a lot of what a lot of people are doing.Tie dying, banana bread baking, puzzles.But also just like so much TV I don’t even know what to do with it. I’ve just been watching so much but we all just need the escape right now.I’m chronically binge-watching TV shows.

MW: And Katy Keene of course, have you and the cast been keeping in touch?Doing any Zoom calls or anything like that?

LH: A lot ofZoom calls.We’re all in a big group text.We’re keeping up as best as we can.Most of them are on the East Coast; I think I’m the only one in LA, I’m The Lone Ranger out here.We’re doing our best. I can’t wait to see them again. I miss them so much.

MW: You all have your season 1 finale tonight. Can you believe that season one is already wrapping up?

LH: The whole concept of time right now is so bizarre anyways. I’m like what day is it? I don’t know what day it is.It feels like it’s been a long time, but yet the season has gone so quickly. I can’t believe it.

MW: It’s just day or night at this point. Is the sun up or is the sun down, we’ve gone back to using sun dials.

LH: Right, it’s all about the shadows [laughs] But it’s probably been a little over a year since the whole Katy Keene thing started from when we shot the pilot to fill in the whole season.It’s just been a joy, it’s been so fun.Seeing everyone’s response has been great.We’ve had the best time Instagram Living and tweeting with everyone and seeing everyone’s response.

MW:Katy is a little bit of new character for you, you have a year playing her but in the grand scheme of things that’s not that long.How’s your grasp on the character at this point and how far do you feel like you’ve come with her?

LH: I saw so much of myself inKaty from the very beginning, her drive and her passion, not only for her career but for her friends.She loves life, she loves making the most out of life.Her story immediately reminded me of my story from moving to LA to become an actor there were some real parallels.

I saw a lot of myself in her but when you spend 14 hours a day on set you create more of an identity. I feel like Idefinitely have a stronger sense of who she is and where I want her to go in season two. I always like to have a kind of creative back story for my characters.All of my characters that I play kind of become a little part of who I am for sure big.

MW:A big part of Katy are her outfits, the wardrobe.Has any of Katy’s style started to leak into Lucy’s closet?

LH: [Laughs] No. Katy is definitely more of a fashionista then I think that I am.She’s very girly, she’s very feminine.She understands fashion on a level that I don’t.

Don’t get me wrong, I love clothes and I appreciate fashion.That’s really her passion in her life though.I’m a little more subdued, we’ll just leave it at that.I‘m a little more casual then Katy. Everyone always asks,‘do you get to keep the clothes?’You dont. They get saved or they get rotated through other shows.Unfortunately, I don’t get to keep anything.

MW: Not even one or two things, just as a trophy?

LH: They would be like, ‘Lucy is stealing stuff’ [laughs]. Maybe next season.

MW:Another big part of the show is New York City as a backdrop.What does the NYC as a setting do for the show?

LH:It’s a character within itself, it really was cool.So often they’ll take shows that are based somewhere and film them in a completely different place.We feel really lucky that we got to actually film there because it’s about New York.It’s about these four friends in New York just trying to get by and make their dreams come true.

We got to film atsome really, really cool iconic locations, on location a lot.A lot of our work wasn’t on the stages, it was right in the middle of Manhattan, which was really fun because you really get a sense of the city for sure.It was great but I was really nervous about the winter. I was like,’Ah, I’m going to break.’ It was my first East Coast winter but it was fine.

MW: You were out here for a good one, wasn’t too bad this year.

LH: And I was fully prepared with my clothes. I now know how to properly layer.

MW: Like a real New Yorker. Looking ahead to tonight’s episode, some unexpected opportunities come Katy’s way.What else can you tell us about the season finale?

LH: For all theRiverdale fans, we have a little guest appearance from Mark Consueloswho plays HiramLodge, who is Veronica’s dad.He comes to the city to stir things up a little bit, add a little spice, add a little drama.

Katy, she’s devised this whole plan on how she wants to getsome revenge on someone who’s really taking advantage of her and she does it in the very Katy way, very appropriately Katy way. Katy also realizes that she’s still in love with someone so she’s struggling with the do I chase after this, do I let him go thing.

We kind of end up on a cliffhanger.My favorite part about the finale is that I get to sing one of my favorite songs.That was really cool to have my solo moment.

MW: Congrats! Excited to hear that for sure. Last question before I let you go, we touched on it a little bit earlier but with everything going on and people spending more time at home, TV is a go-to for a lot of people as a coping mechanism. Katy Keene certainly falls into that bucket of giving people an escape, what does that mean to you to give people some time to put things aside and just be entertained?

LH:That is kind of why we do what we do.It feels nice to know that we can offer some sort of escape to people during this time.Especially this show, it’s a little bright light especially during this time.Hopefully it leaves people feeling a little more inspired, a little more optimistic.We could all be a little more like Katy.We’re very grateful for the support.Very, very grateful.

MW: Well Lucy, thanks again for the time today, congrats on season one and we’re all looking out for Katy Keene season two! Take care, be safe!

LH: Thanks Matt! All the best!

Katy Keene airs their first season finale on Thursday, May 14th at 8/7c on The CW. Check your local listings for more information.